I think we're looking at Hebrews
chapter 6, but we left off Sunday night
back here in the last few verses of chapter 5. So let's look at
that a few moments, for that chapter 5 leads us into the opening
statement of verse 1, chapter 6, Let's see what Paul said back
here. He's speaking of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of our great, good, and chief, wonderful high priest. And he says in verse 8, though
he were a son, the Son of God, equal with the Father, thought
it not robbery to be equal with God, though he were a son, Yet
he learned, he experienced, he effected obedience for all of
his people by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect,
being perfect in life, being perfect in thought, being perfect
in word, perfect in deed, perfect in obedience, and a perfect sacrifice
in death, and being made perfect, perfect man, the God-man, he
became the author and finisher, the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that trust him, obey him, believe on him, come
to him, receive him. That's us by his grace. And he's
called of God, appointed, anointed of God, a high priest. after
the order of Melchizedek, the sons of Abram, Levi. They're pictures of Christ, but
we need a better type of Christ. They were many. He's one. They
lived and died. He lives forever. They perform
their services in a tabernacle on earth. He ministers in heaven. They offered the blood of an
animal. He offers his own blood. Their sacrifices can never put
away sin. He has put sin away forever.
So he's called of God, a high priest, king of Salem, king of
peace, after the order of Melchizedek, who met Abraham, who has neither
earthly father or mother, beginning of days or end of days, pedigree,
ancestry, Melchizedek. And then in verse 11, now this
is one of the key verses of this study. Of whom? Of Christ, the mysteries of Christ,
the glory of Christ, the work of Christ, his work
in us, his work for us, his intercession, his relationship with us. Of
whom? Of Christ, Paul says we have
many things to say, and hard to be uttered, hard to be understood.
You know, those people that heard him in John 6, they said, this
is a hard saying. Who can hear it? Mysteries, great
and glorious things, and hard to be understood, especially
if this be the case. Listen to the next line. You're
dull of hearing. He's saying to these Hebrews,
I have many things to say to you, teach you, pass along to
you about Christ, his work, his glory, his grace, his priestly
intercession. And these things are hard to
explain, especially when men and women are dull of hearing.
He's not accusing them of being indifferent because a man can't
be a child of God and be indifferent to the things of Christ. But
what he's saying here is they're not diligent in study and meditation. They're not diligent, diligent,
dull of hearing, just sleepy-hairless. It's not that they're not interested.
You know better than that. A believer, a believer is interested. He's not indifferent. indifferent to the things of
Christ, but sometimes we get, we get dull. We get taken up
with other things. We let other things creep in
and drive out that which is most important. And that accounts
for verse 12. He said, some of you Hebrews
have been believers a long time. And by this time, you ought to
be teachers yourselves. He said, well, when? For the time concerning, considering
how long you've been a believer, you ought to be teaching. Instead,
you have need that one teach you again, which be the first
principles of the oracles of God. What are the oracles of
God? The oracles of God are the word of God, the things of God,
revelations of God. truth of God, the gospel of God. And he said, some of you have
been believers, some of you Hebrews have been believers a long time,
and by this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, but because
of this dullness, because of this lack of diligence and commitment,
you're still a babe. And you have to be taught over
and over and over again the first principles, the foundation for
this. Now, you want to watch these words here, the first principles
of the oracles of God, because down in chapter 6, verse 1, look
down there, therefore leaving the principles of the doctrines
of Christ. Let's go on to maturity. So you
want to watch that right there, underscore the first principle,
and here's what he's charging them with because of their dullness,
because of their lack of diligence in searching the Scripture. Study,
to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not
to be ashamed. You have need, he says in verse
12, that we keep going over, going over the first principle.
The things you learn when God calls you, when God saves you,
the things you learn when God reveals Christ to you. And you
are become such as have need of milk, not strong meat. Verse 13, for everyone that uses
milk, they can't take the stronger meat that's on a milk diet. It's not that he doesn't know
the word of righteousness or believe it, he's unskilled in
it. How do you become skilled? Well, you become skilled by actively
studying and practicing what you're taught. In other words,
a teacher gives her class a problem and she has them work a dozen
of them. Just keep working until they become skilled in that.
When a young tennis player is taught to hit a ball, he keeps
hitting the forehand and the backhand, he keeps hitting it
over until he becomes skilled at it. And he's saying that everyone
that has to have milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness.
He's a babe. There's nothing wrong with being
a babe if you're that young. There are babes in Christ, there
are young men in Christ, and elders in Christ. That's growth
in Christ. There's nothing wrong with being
a babe. But strong meat belongs to mature
believers, older believers, who've been taught. And listen to verse
14. Strong meat belongs to them who
are of full age. You see that word in the margin
there, perfect. As we go along with this lesson,
you're going to run into that word perfect, perfect, perfect,
perfect, perfection. Well, it doesn't mean that we're
without sin. It doesn't mean that we're perfect
in faith, or perfect in love, or perfect in patience, or perfect
in joy, or perfect in grace. We're perfect in Christ. We have
a perfect righteousness. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. As Bob prayed, our sins are gone.
We have a perfect righteousness. But we're not perfect in this
world, but the Word is mature. You look it up. You look up the
Word and you can quote it when you get home. This is what I'm
saying. Let's become skillful in these
things. Write that down and look it up,
the word perfect. I think the number back in Greek,
in Cornish, is 4056 or something like that. There it is. It says
a full age, grown man, mature. That's what it means. And he
says strong knees belong to them that are of full age, grown up. Even those who, by reason of
use, have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil,
what's good and what's not good, because they've heard the message
and they've applied it. It's the same thing. It's like
a lot of times people say to me, well, you preach something
and they come out and say, I can't do that. I know you can't do
it perfectly, but you could take a shot at it. You know, you know,
if a fellow's Shooting at a target. He doesn't expect to hit the
bullseye every time but he ain't gonna hit if he shoots in that
direction See what I'm saying aim at the target aim at Loving
someone with all your heart The Lord God with all your heart
your neighbors you take a shot at it If you can't hit the bullseye,
you might come close if you keep practicing might get even closer
See what I'm saying? That's what he's saying. Here's
the In verse 13, everyone that has to be taught the same thing
over, go back and relay the foundation. It's time to start building a
building. I don't know a whole lot about building, but I have
built a couple of houses, and I know one of the most, well,
the most important part is to write foundation, put a good
foundation. But once you lay it, Don't keep
digging it up and doing it over. Don't keep chipping away at it
and checking it. Start building. And that's what
he's saying here. And to go into verse 1 of chapter
6. Therefore, leaving the principles
of the doctrine of Christ. Look in your margin there, it
says the word of the beginning. Let's go on to perfection. Now,
what's the word mean? Maturity. Let's go on to maturity. Let's go on. Let's look into
some more things about our Lord. Not laying again the foundation
of repentance from dead work. All right. Here are six principles
in these next verses. You can underscore them or you
can write them down and let me define them. These are the first principles
I mentioned back yonder in verse 12, you remember? He says when
you ought to be teachers, you have need that somebody come
along and keep relaying these foundations, relaying the first
principles. All right, what are they? All
right, number one, repentance from dead works. What's he talking
about here? He's talking about what Paul
talked about in Philippians 3. Paul was in religion. He said,
if you think you have something to brag about, I'm over. I was
a Hebrew of Hebrews, tribe of Benjamin, circumcised the eighth
day, concerning the law blameless. I was working my way to heaven.
I was trusting self-righteousness. That was my works. I was trying
to put my works before God. When God saves a man, when he
saved Paul, the first thing Paul did was repent of those dead
works. He said, I count those things
but lost. I count them but dumb for the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ. And the same thing true of many of us. We were in
religion, we were brought up in religion, and when we met
Christ, the first thing that we found out, it's not by works
of righteousness which we've done, but according to his mercy
we're saved. And we repent of everything we've
ever done to try to get in favor with God. Repent of your dead
work. Put them away. Put them away. That's what he's
talking about. We are convinced of sin. We're convinced of the
sin of our best deeds. I don't have any once before
God. Either before conversion or after. It's Christ that saves. All right. See that? You don't
have to keep going back teaching you. You learned that once. You
learned it. That's the base. That's base
milk. Here's the second thing. Faith
in God. That's the foundation of our salvation. That's the
first thing we learn, is to believe God. Without faith it's impossible
to come to God. He that cometh to God must believe.
Repentance and faith are inseparable. That's the foundation. May God know that and be saved.
See, that's the first principle. Now here's the third one, of
the doctrine of baptism. You've been taught that. First
of all, when God saves us, He convinces us of sin, especially
the sin of our work. We repent of those dead works.
We believe God. We believe in Christ, our Lord,
our Redeemer, our Savior, His blood, His righteousness. And
then we find this out. We've been baptized into the
body of Christ by the Holy Spirit. We are immersed and baptized
into Christ. We're in Him. He's the bind,
we're the break. He's the head, we're the body.
That's right. We're in him. That's baptized
into Christ. And then we're baptized in water
to identify with Christ. That's our confession. We follow
the Lord in baptism, declaring to everybody, when Christ died,
I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he rose again, I rose. Baptism. That's right. That's
the doctrine of baptism. That's done. That's foundation.
And then the fourth thing, the laying on of hands. See it there,
laying on of hands. This, in the early church, there
were special powers conferred upon the disciples, upon whom
they laid their hands. They received the Spirit and
certain gifts. That was the beginning. That
was back in those early days when the Holy Spirit was put
upon many people by the laying on of the apostles' hands, and
many gifts came that way. You remember Paul said to Timothy,
stir up the gift that's in you by the laying on of my hands. And then the early church, when
they sent out Paul and Silas, when they ordained elders, when
they ordained those deacons, they laid hands on them, laying
on of hands. And then we're warned not to
lay hands suddenly on any man, but to be patient and wait, find
God's leadership before we put approval upon certain people. So that's foundation. And then
the fifth one is the resurrection of the dead. I preach on the
resurrection of the dead here and I intend to continue to preach
on the resurrection of the dead. I believe in the resurrection
of the dead. I believe that one day when Christ comes, he'll
bring his people with him and the dead in Christ, that soul
and body will be reunited in the likeness of Christ. I believe
that. And that was their early doctrine
of resurrection of the dead for which the apostles were persecuted
and hated and put in prison because they preached the resurrection
of the dead. Well, I don't need on Wednesday
night to convince you the dead are going to be raised, do I?
Don't you know that? Do I need to over and over again
to this prayer meeting crowd, I preach to some of you, Long,
you know, you've never had another pastor. I've been preaching to
you long as you've been living. Repentance toward God. Repentance
from your dead work. Faith in Christ. Immersed in
Christ by the Holy Spirit. Sent out by God by the laying
on of hands. Resurrection of the dead. And
here's the sixth one. Eternal judgment. You believe
God's going to judge the dead? I do. I'm no atheist. He's appointed a day in which
he's going to judge this world by that man Christ Jesus, and
the dead, small and great, will stand before God. That's the
first principle. Now when it says here in verse
1, therefore leaving the first principle, he doesn't mean quit
preaching them. We're going to keep preaching
them, because we've got babes, we've got children, we've got
visitors, we've got other people that will keep preaching these
foundation treasures. And we'll keep laying a foundation,
laying a foundation, laying a foundation. We're not going to forget them.
We're not going to deny them. We're not going to lose them.
We're not going to quit teaching them to seekers and to babes. But you who have a foundation
laid by the grace of God in the first principles of Christ, let's
go on. Let's build a house. Let's go
on to maturity. Let's learn some things about
ourselves, and about our God, and about our Lord, and about
His Word, and about His will, and about His providence, and
about His goodness, and about His grace. Let's learn some things. Right? That's what he's saying. In verse 3, he said, this is
what we're going to do, if God permits it. This is what we're
going to do. Let us go on, let's study the
word of our Lord, let's grow in grace, desire the sincere
milk of the word that we may grow thereby. And that's what
we're going to do. Now, the word perfection, I looked
it up in several other scriptures. I want us to turn to some scriptures. The word perfection, as I said,
is to grow up, is to mature, a mental maturity, a spiritual
maturity, a moral maturity. And where the word is used, that's
what it means. Now, let's find some places where
it's used. First of all, Matthew, Chapter 5. Matthew, Chapter 5. We're not supposed to be children
in understanding. We're supposed to be men. Matthew
chapter 5, verse 43. All right, you've heard that
it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine
enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemies. Let's study this
grace. Bless them that curse you. Do
good to them that hate you. Pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. that you may be children of your
father, which is in heaven. In other words, act like your
father. But he maketh his son to rise on the evil and the good.
He sends rain on the just and the unjust. If you love them
which love you, what reward have you? Why, do not even the publicans
do the same? If you salute your brethren only,
what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans salute
their brother only? Be ye therefore mature, of full
age, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 2, the words used again, 1 Corinthians chapter
2. Now this is what you call meat. These are the meatier things. You see, those first principles
are the things that babies learn. He's not saved, he doesn't believe
those things. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 4. Now,
here is an unshaken faith in the Word of God. Grow in confidence
in the Word. Listen. 1 Corinthians 2, verse
4. And my speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and the power that your faith should not stand in
the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. How be it, we speak
wisdom among them that are mature. Not the wisdom of this world,
nor the princes of this world comes to nothing. To those people
who are mature, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even
the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world and our glory.
There's the meat where you can trust His Word, believe His Word. Not be driven by every wind of
doubt and doctrine that comes your way. Turn to Ephesians 4. Here's the word is again. Ephesians
4, verse 11. Ephesians 4, verse 11. And he gave some apostles, when
our Lord went back to glory, he gave some apostles and some
prophets and some missionaries, some pastors and teachers, Ephesians
4, to preach the gospel, that's right, but also to teach the
church. That's the pastor's job, the
teacher. Teach them what? For the perfecting, the maturity
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ till we all come. Bob, in his prayer,
mentioned this, in the unity of faith and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a mature man. unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ, that we be henceforth no more
children, babies, tossed to and fro, carried about with every
wind of doctrine by the slight of men. You know, a fellow told
me one night and said, if one man can talk you into something,
another man will talk you out of it. But we don't trust men,
we trust His word. And they come along with their
cunningly devised tables and slight of men and cunning craftiness,
whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But verse 15, speak the truth
in love. Speaking the truth in love, we
may grow up into Him in all things. That's what he's talking about.
The foundation is there. We've got people. We've got people. We know something about repentance,
and we repent. We believe. We're in Christ. But I want to grow up, don't
you? I want to be mature. I want ever grace, the grace
of faith. It grows. The disciples said
to the Lord, increase our faith, increase our faith, patience. Let's turn over here and look
at Romans, I believe it's chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, verse 3. And not only so, but we glory
in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience.
And patience, experience. What is experience? It's maturity. It's maturity. And experience,
hope. The more maturity we have, the
better hope we've got. And hope make it not a shame,
because the love of God shed abroad in our hearts. All right,
turn to Colossians 3. Let's look at this scripture.
We're talking about this maturity. Go on, go on, grow up. Let's
go on to maturity. Let's study the Word. If I teach
something, don't, don't, if you haven't heard it before, don't
get upset with me. Study it. Study the Word. See what God has to say. We're
not going to grow if we aren't taught. We're not going to be
taught if we don't listen to the teacher. Colossians 3, listen
to verse 20. Put on therefore as the elect
of God. I don't have to stop there and
prove election. Do you do it? Let's go on. Listen. All right. Holy and beloved, vows of mercy,
the innermost being, kindness, Humility of mind, meekness, long-suffering,
forbearing one another, forgiving one another. Any man have a quarrel
against any, even as Christ forgave you, so forgive you. And above
everything, all things, put on love, which is the bond of what?
Maturity. The fellow that strikes back,
he's not mature. The fellow that's able to forgive
and love, he's mature. That's it. That's what he's talking
about. That doesn't mean the fellow that strikes is not saved.
I'm not saying that. I'd been lost a whole lot, wouldn't
you? He's saved. He knows God. But he needs to
grow up. We've got, in our household,
we've got babies. We've got 8-year-olds and 10-year-olds
and 20-year-olds and 40-year-olds and 60-year-olds. You expect
more out of the 60-year-old than you do the 8-year-old. But he's
still a son. Don't confine anybody to the
pits of hell because they don't act like you think they ought
to act all the time. Don't do that. Turn to 2 Timothy,
2 Timothy 3, 2 Timothy 3, verse 16, 17. And this is what he said. Let's
get into the Word. This is where it is. make much
of the word of God around here, 2 Timothy 3, 16, all scripture
is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine,
for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness
that the man of God, the child of God, may be perfect, mature,
truly furnished unto all good works. Let me show you one or two more.
This is very strong here. James, the book of James. James chapter 1, verse 2. We wonder sometimes why the Lord
sends certain trials and troubles our way. They're for our spiritual
growth. James chapter 1 verse 2, My brethren,
count it all joy when you fall into different trials, knowing
this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let
patience have her perfect work, her maturing work. It takes time
that you may be mature and entire, wanting nothing. And then James
3 verse 2, this is interesting. And boy, we need to work here,
don't I, and you. James 3, verse 2, in many things
we offend all. And we'll never stop doing that.
But if any man offend not in word, if he can control his tongue,
the same is a mature man. And he's able to bridle a whole
body if he can get some control over his tongue. All right, that's
sufficient. Let's go on now to verse 4. I
know you want me to get into this impossible for those who
are once enlightened, and I don't have any trouble with this at
all. What Paul is saying is this. Now, therefore, the foundation
has been laid. We're children of God. This is
written to children of God. We're redeemed. We have been
brought to repentance and saved. We love Christ. And now you go
on and teach the Word. You don't have to keep examining
the foundation, examining the foot of the seat. You go on.
Because it's impossible for them to follow. It's impossible for
a saved man to be lost. It's impossible for a sheep to
become a goat. It's impossible for a person
who's a child of God to become a child of faith. It's impossible!
For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, enlightened,
who enlightened us? Christ did. God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts. These
are saved people. A child reading this knows these
are saved people. Once enlightened, you don't have
to be enlightened, but once. Once enlightened, once God said
let there be light, there was light. All right? tasted the
heavenly gift. Who's the heavenly gift? It's
Christ. He's the unspeakable gift. He's the gift of God. It so be that you've tasted that
Christ is precious. Have you? Sure. You fed upon
Him. He's the bread of life. You've
eaten His flesh and drunk His blood. You've tasted the heavenly
gift. A lost man hasn't been enlightened
or tasted of Christ. And you may partakers of the
Holy Ghost. You reckon there's any lost people
around here in whom the Holy Spirit dwells? If any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of here. But if he has the
Spirit of Christ, he belongs to Christ. The Holy Spirit quickens
us. The Holy Spirit gives us life.
The Holy Spirit reveals Christ to us. The Holy Spirit dwells
in us. He is the pledge of our inheritance. We partake of the
Holy Ghost. Listen, we've tasted the good
Word of God. Oh, my. It's quickened us. We're
born of the Word of God. We've eaten the Word of God.
We've fed upon the Word of God. He's led us into the green pastures. We've fed upon His Word, tasted
it. And I'll tell you something else. We've tasted the powers
of the world to come. And now abideth faith, hope,
and love, these three. That's the powers of the world
to come. faith, hope, and love. We've tasted that. We've embraced
it. We've entered into it. Oh my,
you mean to tell me that those people can perish? Well, I'll
tell you this, if they should fall away, now listen, listen
carefully, a man cannot fall from a position that he's never
occupied. Get it? It says, if they should
fall away. In other words, you can't fall
away from where you've never been. You've got to be there
to fall away. Now, if they should fall away,
if they should, it would be impossible to save them again, wouldn't
it? If they should fall away, what
is it to fall away? Well, to sin is not to fall away. Abraham sinned. He denied Sarah. David sinned. Lot sinned. Peter sinned. You remember when
Paul had to rebuke him for siding with those Jews from Jerusalem?
Paul borne over his sin. He said, the things I would do,
I do not. And the things I would not do, I do. Every man sins,
but the sin is not fault to fall away. To deny Christ is not to
fall away. You say, well, I don't confess
Christ like I ought to. Peter didn't either. They said, you're one of them.
He said, no, I'm not. Didn't he? He didn't fall away.
He didn't fall away. To fall away would take this.
If a man, he can't fall from where he's never been. So to
fall away would mean this. The Holy Spirit would have to
lead me. Wouldn't it? Because we're partakers
of the Holy Ghost. The blood of Christ would have
to lose its efficacy. Because God said, the blood put
away my sin. Now then, if I fall away, if
my sin comes back on me, his blood couldn't keep it off. Now
this is serious business now, if they fall away. And I know
preachers running all over the country talking about these people
have been saved and they're going to be lost. The people made church,
joined the church and fell away. They have made professions and
fallen away, but nobody has ever fallen away from Christ. The
Holy Ghost would have to leave it. The blood of Christ would
have to lose its efficacy, and eternal life would have to die. He that believeth on me hath
passed from death to life. He that believeth on the Son
will never die. He has passed from death unto
life. If I fall from that, eternal life's got to die. God's got
to die. Because Christ is eternal life. Jesus Christ has got to die for
one of his children to fall away. That's serious business. Now, these preachers are talking
about that business. can't be. I know church members,
John said, they'd been of us, they'd have stayed with us, but
they left because they never were of us. A man can leave something
where he's come in, but he can never fall from a place that
he's never been. And fourthly, God has to stop
his work. It says, Paul said, I'm convinced,
I'm persuaded. convinced that he that hath begun
a good work might change his mind. No, he will finish it. Now, that's what it means to
fall away, and that's the reason he says here, we've laid this
foundation. I preach to you folks, you come
to know Christ. Now, let's go on, let's learn
about our inheritance, let's grow in grace, let's study the
Word. I don't have to keep bringing you back to where you started. We will because there's new people,
babes and besters and all, and we need to be reminded of all
these things. Remember the pit from which you were dug. But
don't be afraid they're going to fall away. Well, if they did,
you couldn't save them again because, listen, they crucify
to themselves a son of God of flesh and put him to open shame.
In other words, to save that man, if Christ died and the first
time couldn't do it, he'd have to die again. He'd have to die
again. In order for a man to be renewed
to salvation, who's lost salvation, there's got to be a power greater
than the one that saved him the first time. There's got to be
a blood stronger than the one he trusted the first time. There's
got to be a better righteousness than he had the first time, and
there's got to be another sacrifice, and that ain't possible. We're not going to put him to
open shame. You're not going to do it. It's not going to do
it. It's a hypothetical thing. What
Paul is saying here is the same thing I read from Isaiah. My
word will not return unto me void. It accomplished that whereunto
I sinned. I'm not worried about you falling
away. Not even worried. Not even concerned. All right,
and this is what he says in verse 7. For the earth which drinketh
in the rain that cometh oft upon it. and brings forth herbs, meat,
for them by whom it is dressed, received." That's the blessing
from God. When God sends his rain and vegetables come up and
fruit comes up, that's God's blessing. That's what he sent
the rain to do. But he said, sometimes, verse 8, it rains
and thorns come up and briars and that's rejected and now unto
cursing whose end is to be burned. Where the rain falls and it bears
fruit, that's the gospel bearing fruit. And where the gospel is
preached and people don't bear fruit and thorns and briars,
they didn't hear it. They didn't hear it, did they? No. But beloved, we're persuaded
better things of you and things that accompany salvation. You
see that? What are the things that accompany
salvation? in the next verse, for God is not unrighteous to
forget your work, work of faith and labor of love. That's the
things that accompany salvation, which you've showed toward his
name in that you've ministered to the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence I want every one of us, me, you,
every one of us, to show diligence in faith and in love and in trust
and in patience and in meekness. Show the same diligence to the
full assurance of hope unto the end. The more maturity, the stronger
the hope, and that you be not slothful. Negligent. Don't be negligent. But followers
of them who through faith and patience. We're talking about
Abraham and Isaac and all those people in Hebrews 11 and 12.
Let's follow their example. They inherited the promises.
God made the promise to Abraham because he could swear by no
greater than he could swear by himself. And he said, Blessing,
I'll bless thee and multiply, I'll multiply thee. And so after
he patiently endured, he obtained the promise. Men barely swear
by the greater. In other words, a fellow swears
by a Bible or swears on the altar, something greater than himself.
And when he does that for confirmation, puts an end to an argument. But
God, willing more abundantly to show to the heirs of promise
two things, his promise confirmed by his word and his oath. By two immutable things in which
it's impossible for God to lie, we have a strong hope who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. And which
hope is this? Watch it. It's sure. Tell you
why it's sure. Which hope we have is an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil in the very presence of God. Whether the forerunner
for us, enter it, enter it. Even Jesus made a high priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek. We've got a good hope because
our Lord Jesus Christ hadn't gone into the holy of holies
made with hands, but into heaven itself. There he's seated and
we're in him. Seated with Christ. All right. Here's a hymn. We'll close with
329 Sitting at the feet of Jesus. That's what Mary did. That's
what we all want to do and learn Teach me Lord. I'm just a child
teach me